2020 Rocky Mountain Tax Seminar for Private Foundations Sponsored by El Pomar Foundation

James K. Hasson, Jr., a graduate of Duke Law School (J.D.) and Duke University (A.B.), is a partner in the law firm of Hasson Law Group, LLP, in Atlanta, Georgia. He has published numerous articles and speaks extensively at various conferences around the country. He served from 1987 through 1990 as a member of the Exempt Organization Advisory Group to the Commissioner of the IRS and served for almost 20 years as an adjunct professor of law in the graduate tax program at Emory University School of Law. He has served as chairman of the Exempt Organizations Committee of the Tax Section of ABA and as the Tax Section liaison to the Exempt Organizations Division of the IRS, and he is a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel. He has been recognized by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers (2003-2017) in the area of tax; named to The Best Lawyers in America (1987-2017) in the areas of nonprofit/charities law; and selected annually for inclusion in Georgia Super Lawyers®.

Bruce R. Hopkins practices with the Bruce R. Hopkins Law Firm, LLC, in Kansas City, Missouri.  His practice focuses on tax-exempt organizations, including private foundations.  He is co-author of The Tax Law of Private Foundations, Fifth Edition, and author of Private Foundation Law Made Easy.  Other books he has authored include The Law of Tax-Exempt Organizations, Eleventh Edition; The Tax Law of Charitable Giving, Fifth Edition; A Nonprofit Layer (memoir); Beware the Commerciality Doctrine and Other Nonprofit Law Poetry; Bruce R. Hopkins’ Nonprofit Law Dictionary; and Nonprofit Governance: Law, Practices & Trends (co-author).  He writes a monthly newsletter, Bruce R. Hopkins’ Nonprofit Counsel.  He received the Nonprofit Lawyers Award (2007) from the American Bar Association.   He is the Professor from Practice at the University of Kansas School of Law.  He is a graduate of the University of Michigan, received J.D. and LLM (taxation) degrees from the George Washington University National Law Center, and received an S.J.D. degree from the Kansas University Law School.  He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America (charity law).

Celia Roady is a partner in Morgan Lewis’s Tax Practice.  Celia focuses her practice on tax and governance issues affecting tax exempt organizations, including charities, foundations, colleges and universities, museums and other nonprofit organizations.  She was appointed by the Internal Revenue Service to be a member of its Advisory Committee on Tax-Exempt and Government Entities for 2010-2013. She has also been named by Legal Times as one of Washington, D.C.'s "leading lawyers" in the tax field and is listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business (2005–2016) and The Best Lawyers in America (2007–2017).  She chairs the annual conference on “Representing and Managing Tax-Exempt Organizations,” sponsored by the Georgetown University Law Center.  In 2004-2005, Celia served on the Governance Work Group of the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector, which was convened by Independent Sector to provide comments to the Senate Finance Committee.  Celia is a graduate of Duke University, Duke Law School, and Georgetown Law School (LL.M.).

Virginia C. Gross is a shareholder with Polsinelli PC concentrating her practice on providing advice and counsel to tax-exempt organizations.  She advises nonprofit clients on issues regarding their exempt status qualification, operations, fundraising practices, grant-making, unrelated business income planning, joint venturing and partnering, and the use of supporting organizations and for-profit subsidiaries.  Virginia also works with numerous nonprofit boards of directors and trustees regarding their nonprofit governance and best practices. 

Virginia is a frequent writer and speaker on nonprofit law topics.  Her publications include Nonprofit Governance:  Law, Practices & Trends (Wiley & Sons), Nonprofit Law for Colleges and Universities (Wiley & Sons) and The New Form 990:  Law, Policy, and Preparation (Wiley & Sons).  She also co-authored Private Foundations – Distributions (Sec 4942), a Tax Management Portfolio (BNA).   Virginia earned her J.D. from the University of Texas and her B.S. from Texas A&M University.  She is listed in Best Lawyers in America for Nonprofit Organizations/Charities Law for 2008-2017 and was named the 2017 Non-Profit/Charities Lawyer of the Year for Kansas City.  She is a former member of the Exempt Organizations subcommittee of the IRS Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Governmental Entities. 

Ruth Madrigal has extensive experience - both within the government and in private practice - advising on a wide variety of legal and tax policy issues affecting charities and other tax-exempt entities.Most recently, Ms. Madrigal spent six years as an attorney and policy advisor in the Office of Tax Policy at the US Treasury Department. She was responsible for advising the Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy) on all tax matters involving tax-exempt organizations, including charities and their donors, as well as drafting regulations, other administrative guidance, and legislative proposals relating to the tax-exempt sector and charitable giving. She represented Treasury in public hearings and meetings with other federal agencies, foreign governments, members of Congress, and state regulators.Ms. Madrigal also worked extensively with an interagency working group on impact investing and was instrumental in publishing Treasury guidance on program related investments and other types of mission related investments.
Prior to her government service, Ms. Madrigal advised tax-exempt organizations on a broad range of issues including entity choice, private
foundation rules, intermediate sanctions, unrelated business activities, reporting, and governance issues. She also advocated for clients before the IRS, Treasury, and Congress. Ms. Madrigal frequently writes and speaks on matters pertaining to exempt organizations. Before going to law school, Ms. Madrigal worked in finance.